---
permalink: "/2011/8/12/Amazon-Is-Selling-My-Free-Ebook/"
layout: post
date: 2011-08-12
title: "Someone is selling my Foundations of Programming ebook on Amazon.com (and it isn't me)"
tags: [ebook]
---
<p>I will keep this updated with new information at the top as I get it...</p>

<h3>Update 3 Saturday, August 13th</h3>
<p>It's done...yay! Thanks everyone</p>

<h3>Update 2 Saturday, August 13th</h3>
<p>I received an email from Amazon saying that they are in the process of taking it down and that it could take 2-3 days for it to be de-listed</p>

<h3>Update 1 Saturday, August 13th</h3>
<p>Yesterday I received an email from someone claiming to work for Amazon saying they saw the Hacker News thread and that the issue would be taken care of. He also said he'd "have more info shortly." Googling suggest this person is a director at Amazon.</p>

<p>However, when I woke up (12 hours later, which is practically the whole business day at Amazon), the book is still available, I've gotten no additional email.....and my comment has been removed</p>

<h3>Original Post Friday, August 12th</h3>
<p>On August 6th, I noticed that Foundations of Programming, an ebook which <a href="http://codebetter.com/karlseguin/2008/06/25/foundations-of-programming-ebook/">I released for free on June 25th 2008</a> was being <a href="http://www.amazon.com/FOUNDATION-PROGRAMMING-Building-Software-ebook/dp/B005BYS3FE">sold on Amazon</a> for the Kindle. Like any sane person, my first reaction was to <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/karlseguin/status/99728780108644352">tweet about it</a>. If you actually look at the book on Amazon (you can click on it to see some of the contents), you'll note that at the very top, the book is licensed under a Creative Attribution-NonCommercial-Share-Alike 3.0 license.</p>

<p>Most of the feedback that I got was to 1 - leave a review (which I did, and you can see it) and 2 - contact amazon and tell them about it. Using <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/onlinesp/list/a_agents.html">this list</a>, I was able to find out that DMCA takedown notices should be sent to copyright@amazon.com.</p>

<p>My email said:</p>

{% highlight clike %}
To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to you to avail myself of my rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This letter is a Notice of Infringement as authorized in § 512(c) of the U.S. Copyright Law. I wish to report an instance of what I feel in good faith is an instance or Copyright Infringement. The infringing material appears on the Service for which you are the designated agent.

You are registered with the U.S. Copyright Office as the Designated Service Provider Agent to receive notifications of alleged Copyright infringement with respect to users of the Service for which you are the Designated Agent.

1. The material which I contend belongs to me, and appears illegally on the Service is the following:
FOUNDATION OF PROGRAMMING (Building Better Software)

2. The material appears at the website addresses:
http://www.amazon.com/FOUNDATION-PROGRAMMING-Building-Software-ebook/dp/B005BYS3FE

3. The material appears on my Web site at these addresses:
http://codebetter.com/karlseguin/2008/06/25/foundations-of-programming-ebook/

4. My contact information is as follows:
REMOVED

5. I have a good faith belief that the use of the material that appears on the service is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or by operation of law.

6. The information in this notice is accurate, and I am either the copyright owner or I am authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner. If you look inside the book, using your own feature, you will see that the book is distributed under a non-commercial license.

I declare under the perjury laws of the United States of America that this notification is true and correct.
{% endhighlight %}

<p>Before I sent my email, someone on twitter also sent an email to copyright@amazon.com, informing them of the problem (and CC'ing me)</p>

<p>So far, I have not heard back from Amazon and the book is still available for purchase. I also started <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2876637">a thread on Hacker News</a> which got popular very quickly.</p>
